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Woman Suffrage Centennial Web Exhibit

Gathering on the front steps of Alexander Drake's home to promote the rights of women to vote. Drake built his home in 1900 on the bank of the Deschutes River where the Mirror Pond Brewery parking lot is now located. Two signs can be seen in this photo: Why should women have the right to vote? Why not? and a poster: Votes For Women.

In May of 1912, Mrs. G. P. Putnam was instrumental in getting Mrs. Sara Ehrgott, a well known suffrage leader, to come to Central Oregon to speak. A May 15, 1912 Bend Bulletin article about her talk to five audiences here. She had planned to go to Burns from her visit here, but because of a smallpox outbreak there, she had to postpone her trip. The article mentions an open air meeting being held in Bend. It is possible that this photo was taken at that time. Sara Ehrgott's biographer, Dona Munker, identifies Sara in this photograph as the woman in the center of the photograph, sitting directly behind the seated woman in black. (Courtesy Des Chutes History Museum)